When we think of an entertainment destination, locations such as Disneyland come to mind, but most are a much shorter drive, and you don't think of places such as Stuttgart. However, thousands of folks travel to Stuttgart every year to be entertained. Yep, Stuttgart is the Duck Hunting Capital of the country, and if you want to be entertained by shooting ducks, you go to Stuttgart.
Today we are entertained in so many ways I couldn't mention all of them, but easily the most attractive are attending a popular performance, and we think nothing of driving two hours to see a Broadway touring company put on a play such as "Hamilton."
Traveling to seek entertainment is why I'm writing an update about a budding, and growing, entertainment district right here in Arkansas, and in of all places, El Dorado.
Now don't laugh and flip to the sports section, hear me out.
Back some 10 years ago, Main Street Arkansas brought in a featured speaker, Roger Brooks, a Seattle destination expert. He was so impressive that I formed a group in El Dorado called 50 For the Future, specifically to have him come do a study on El Dorado. We have been losing population over the past 20 years, and he had some ideas of how to turn that around.
The City and 50 For the Future raised the money for Mr. Brooks to do a year-long study of how to turn the population loss around and get the city growing again. His recommendation was to make El Dorado an entertainment destination, and a group called El Dorado Festivals and Events was formed to implement his recommendations. I am not a part of the El Dorado Festivals and Events organization, just a supporter.
Now, let's fast forward to August, 2021, and review the progress.
One block south of the downtown courthouse square, an amazing transformation is taking place with the completion of the following items from Phase One of the multi-phase project: Several old 1920s buildings have been totally renovated into a 2,200 seat music hall with state of the art sound and visuals; a cabaret-restaurant lounge with a preforming stage; an amphitheater that will hold 8,000; the largest children's PlayScape in the state; and the fabulous new 70-room Haywood Hotel, which is probably the first new hotel in the center of a town in the state in years.
And that's just Phase One.
In Phase Two, the four floor 1920s era McWilliams Furniture Building will be completely renovated into a magnificent fine art museum, and almost next door, the state's premier 1920s playhouse, the Rialto Theater, will be completely renovated and will be turned into a Broadway play venue and home of the South Arkansas Symphony.
The impact of COVID-19 has been severe on the new district, which is named the Murphy Arts District, or, as we in El Dorado call it, MAD. During the past year, a number of projects have been delayed or canceled, the cabaret-restaurant was closed and a number of nationally known entertainers had to cancel because of virus restrictions.
Of course, that has been the case in almost every similar venue.
However, even with the pandemic, progress is being made, and crowds are filling the venues again. Pam Griffin, the CEO, has done a masterful job of not only holding the improvements together, but as the virus subsides, opening up the entertainment booking, and in a few weeks the cabaret-restaurant will re-open.
However, MAD will ultimately include a lot more than the Phase One and Two core areas. The adjacent new convention center and local community college will contribute to the variety of entertainment programs, as will the Municipal Auditorium, downtown restaurants and bars, and a proposed street stage, which will take up a single parking place, and the fountain area in the public area at Corinne Court, which will have a one person stage available for musicians to perform. Those areas, along with live music at Marilyn's on the Square and the Minkeye Pub, will add to the entertainment district.
But will this "Build it and they will come" concept work? Brooks, the destination expert points to Ashland, Oregon as an example of why it will work. According to him, El Dorado has better demographics than Ashland, which has five major playhouses and attracted some 175,000 visitors per year prior to the pandemic.
According to my sources, there are negotiations in progress to bring several additional noted performers and groups to the Amphitheater, and later in the fall, the lineup to play in the First Financial Music Hall looks to be top notch. Before the pandemic, Hank Williams Jr. filled the 8,000 person amphitheater, and as the pandemic begins to wind down, MAD is winding up with Rodney Block recently drawing a huge crowd to the First Financial Music Hall and tickets sales for the August 14 Avett Brothers and Robert Earl Keen concert in the Amphitheater are soaring. The amphitheater is expected to be full with an overflow out into the street.
Of course, the idea of an entertainment district is not just to entertain folks who would drive into town for an event. Ashland, Oregon's population is growing because it is attracting skilled workers from metropolitan areas who are tired of the constant hassle of living in a mega-city, and are looking for a place to relocate. The goal of El Dorado's entertainment district is to do the same thing. As the venues begin to reopen, and construction commences on additional aspects of Phase Two, the area will began to draw not just entertainers and concert goers, but individuals who will relocate to be a part of the overall community. New restaurants and bars will open, more hotels and motels will be constructed and the resulting cash flow into the community will help existing businesses.
As the pandemic subsides and as more and more entertainers are being booked, we are already beginning to see big crowds attend these events. The Avett Brothers are already impacting the community. Downtown, Union Square Guest Quarters with its 32 rooms and the Haywood Hotel with 70 rooms have been fully booked for months. Of course other hotels in the city are also having a surge in business. The Avett Brothers may have an attendance of over 8,000 on a weekend, and in the future, if you had another group as popular as the Avett Brothers booked for midweek, MAD and El Dorado would boom.
If we have that increase in visitors to the city as the new Fine Art Museum opens and the Rialto Theater Broadway play venue draws thousands, it is easy to project that musicians will be attracted to play in numerous other venues in the downtown and in other places in the city. Naturally, El Dorado's award-winning downtown and its new high school and college-level football stadium will also contribute to draw people to relocate in the city. That is the goal of MAD.